Monday, 24 October 2011

The ghost of Africa past..

The notion that Africa will position itself as an economic superpower somewhere in the not-too-distant-future falls a yard or two short of reality. Where violent tribal enmities are a common thread and with her demographically segmented peoples, flawed long-term economic strategies and burgeoning poverty it's not difficult to be dismissive of Africa's prospects.

In a new development, the European legacies of the past, largely exploitative and still entrenched in Africa's beggared psyche, have been rekindled, unnoticed it seems, in the boardrooms of China. China's resource ambitions are unfettered and often environmentally disastrous and yet African governments smarting from Western betrayal, perceived or otherwise, have little option but to look to the East. China's propensity to lull the uninitiated by conjuring up poorly constructed, inferior quality infrastructure in return for what can only be described as economic exploitation, imperils Africa.

In countries where retained power is often pillared on ethnic subjugation and even genocidal sacrifice, the elected officials and or self-styled political leaders continuously flout the best interests of her peoples. Under this guise Africa's leaders, lulled into a Ray-Ban-tinted sense of self-worth and where the rule of law is an ephemeral notion at best, seemingly lack the experience or courage to resist this trickery, exchanging precious non-renewable resources for cheap trinkets.

In a leadership vacuum African Ubuntu (pride) has a fragility reminiscent of the distant past. South Africa is no different.